The Warm Bride
by Unfortunately Freckled
Summary: It is an Uchiha tradition to marry in the summer of one’s 17th birthday and Sasuke doesn’t plan on breaking it. The only dilemma is convincing the bride. [SasuNaru]
1. Warm Dreams

Author's note: I swore to myself a long time ago I would never ever never do this—Write PURE NO TRUE PLOT sasunaru. I said, "Hay, romance should have a plot and character development." But then—Here I am; about to embark on an adventure of just pure out sasunaru pervvy goodness. I am ashamed and yet slightly---exicited. Eeeee! I am writing smuutttttt! Gahahayayahha! o Eat this chunk of steaming hot smut exquisite and articulate literature aka: Faulkner's _As I Lay Dying. _

Ehm, please review!

This is wee bit AU…I'm just probably going to ignore the whole Ochimaru thing---or explain it later. For right now—Smile is denial!

EDIT: I revised! –touchdown dance-

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Sasuke was a very practical man. He did not dilly dally with any task, no; he went about things smoothly and directly. If he required something he attainted it; no matter how strange or awkward it seemed to the rest of the populace. (Their opinions were inconsequential wisps in the wind anyway.) For instance, if he desired an orange sherbet frosty cone from the corner drugstore at 3 a' clock in the morning on Christmas Eve, he would get up and stroll through the deserted Konoha streets, in his pajamas, to acquire it. Organized and composed, he trailed through life on a very rigid, straight path, never wandering off into the abstract mess wallowing beside it.

--Until there was Naruto. Since the insufferable orange blur and the rest of his team had entered Sasuke's life, his straight trail had become twisted and tangled around him. He and Naruto were complete opposites and so with just his mere bouncy presence, Sasuke's world was sent teetering. He had always enjoyed his self-inflicted solitude up until then, curling up in the stately Uchiha library with a good book for partnership. However now, whenever he attempted any sort of project alone he felt just that—alone. Even after the slaughter of his family, he had never felt truly lonely for the burden of responsibility in revenging their deaths had kept him company enough to sleep at night without feeling the chill of the voiceless, lifeless wind. But somehow now whenever he plopped over unto his stale mattress after a long day of tiresome missions he desired a presence there—a life—warmth. The frigid wind now sliced his mind to pieces every night and left him to the early morning hours to figure out just where all the parts fit together again.

And so, being the very practical man Sasuke was, he deduced that what he so desperately needed at night to send him to his blessed dreams was a partner. A wife so to speak; but nothing like his mother whom had raised the very monster that had massacred her; and nothing like the relationship between her and his father. They were products of an arranged marriage between two prestigious ninja clans and Sasuke could never remember a time that they smiled at one another—or even seemed happy to be in each other's presence. They had always seemed like two lonely put-out stars that had lost all their glow. No, Sasuke concluded that he needed someone whom shared the same sentiments as himself. What good was cold company? He already had the wind to shake him awake all night and rip at the whole that had slowly been developing in his chest.

But, this problem, this little detour from his uncorking road, that had subtly been bubbling inside him for almost three years, suddenly came to a full broil on the day of his 17th birthday.

It had always been a tradition in the Uchiha clan to marry in the summer of one's 17th birthday. The reason for this Sasuke could plainly see: A ninja's life was unexpected and for the most part, terribly short. The average ninja's lifespan back in the years of his great ancestor's was 25. It had only upped ten years since then, so an early marriage ensured more time with family, and of course, more little ninjas. Sasuke had no intention of breaking it; it was a gleaming link to his family and he would not destroy anything of theirs—he would not be like Itachi.

However, he locked up his anxiety. He threw it into the same internal fire that he through the pain authored by his missing family into. He went about his straight day on his straight path with a practical mind. Aimlessly brooding over it for hours would not solve his feelings. Though sometimes, when he was with team seven, he felt as if it had all been solved—as if he was fine, complete, but the feeling soon departed when he and the team did. He would always look wistfully back at their retreating figures, watching them fade into their own lives. His heart would flip uncomfortably when he gazed at Naruto in particular, which he thought was simply because he knew that the fox boy was also going home to the same frosty conditions he was. But then the dreams started coming.

He had no idea where they had erupted from and he had at first wished for any way to plug up the tap from which they spewed. Perverse and just down right _wrong_, these dreams were something that he considered completely unnecessary and idiotic. Though, over time, he began to shamefully enjoy them. He'd wake up panting with an obvious, throbbing problem in his nether regions—but, he'd wake up warm and with fuzzy images of a certain blonde haired boy with sunny tepid skin writhing beneath him and gasping his name. Sasuke was a practical man, and as all practical men do, he attached a single reason to these ehm—occurrences: He found Naruto attractive.

It wasn't that hard not too. His childish and cheerful personality endeared him to most people, even as obnoxious as he could be sometimes. He wasn't that bad to ogle either; his wide, clear blue eyes shined with a glossy innocence that reminded Sasuke vaguely of that time before his awful memories—where everyday was his to shape with his own fingers and not his brother's. During longer missions, they roomed together in the same tent and often had to dress in front of each other. Sasuke had noticed that under the veil of that putrid orange jump-suit, Naruto's figure was slender and his skin was abnormally flawless. It was unusual that he didn't carry any scars; Sasuke guessed it was the lovely work of the Kyubbi.

Today, Sasuke happened to awaken to such an occurrence. Sighing, he tossed the covers off him and shivered at the sudden chill that rushed his bare chest. His dream had been so wonderful last night, ending with the fox boy sprawled naked on the Hokage's desk. Sasuke retraced the ethereal lines across his chest where Naruto had lazily trailed his hand. _It was a dream_, he reaffirmed in his head. _Just a dream and nothing more._ And so, with that regretful confirmation, he proceeded to take a _very_ cold shower; the lasting remnants of his ravishing dream entangled with the soap and swirled down the drain.

After he was fully cleansed, physically and mentally, he made his way to the typical meeting place. Sakura was already there sitting on the bench. Her sea-foam eyes brightened at the sight of him and she eagerly jumped up, clasping her hands behind her back and smiling sweetly.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun! Did you sleep well?"

On the surface, Sasuke knew Sakura would make the best wife. She was smart, very pretty, and generally adored him, but he just couldn't find it in himself to like her. Of course he sometimes enjoyed her company, those rare times she wasn't totally consumed in her hormones and hanging shamelessly all over him. He tried to picture waking up to her every morning and found himself slightly disgusted. Sakura would make a good wife—for someone else.

"Yes." He grunted, plopping down unto the bench.

"That's goo—"

"Ohayo Sakura-chan!" Interrupted a strident, bratty voice. Sasuke turned to see the same boy with the same small nose that he had placed light kisses on in his previous dream. He almost felt like blushing at the sight of it. _Almost. _

"You're so loud Naruto! I bet you've woken up the entire street." Sakura chastised lightly.

"Ehehe, sorry." He scratched his nose with his palm, manifesting the appearance of a feline in doing so, and then switched his attention to Sasuke. Glowering slightly, his bottom lip projected out as happened when he pouted. Sasuke wondered how the tuft of soft skin would feel in between his teeth, nibbling—_What the hell!_

"Sasuke." Naruto acknowledged grumpily. Sasuke smirked, appearing more arrogant and all-knowing then he felt inside. His stomach felt like it was melting and rolling down his legs. A vein twitched in Naruto's head.

"Teme…"

"Yo."

Kakashi arrived in the knick of time before Naruto lost his temper and went completely wild. It was a favorite game of Sasuke's to poke at Naruto's exterior fury. He enjoyed watching the blood rush to his cheeks, with his bright eyes contrasting brilliantly like two drops of rain in an orange, arid desert.

Kakashi explained that there were no missions about for their team (Naruto huffed) and so they would get in some much needed training. They ventured into the forest encasing the village. Some of the trees were still bare from winter's severe hand, while other's held earnest jade buds that glowed in the russet forest like vivid gemstones. Sasuke usually enjoyed the forest when it was like this—rusty and dead, but with a sanguine life brewing beneath it. However, today it worried him. If the leaves were beginning to sprout, that meant spring was on its merry way and that meant he didn't have long to find a partner.

Their perverse sensei decided that the bruises still visible from their last mission were proof that team seven needed more training in hand to hand combat. Prohibited from using any sort of ninja technique, Kakashi paired them off: Sakura with him and Sasuke with Naruto.

Sasuke had to admit that even though Naruto was terribly clumsy, he was a formidable fighter. They dashed and collided in ephemeral orange and black flashes, and just when Sasuke thought he had landed a punch, Naruto would dodge. Their skirmish lasted at least an hour and the Uchiha heir knew he had to end it. Both were sweating and panting heavily and scowling at each other's stamina.

"Hn, dobe. You haven't even touched me yet." Sasuke heaved , still achieving a haughty leer in his diluted state.

"I'm going to do more then touch you, teme!" Exclaimed Naruto, breathlessly. Sasuke felt his eyes widen as a ribbon of last night's dream seemed to tighten around his stomach uncomfortably. A flood of heat gushed to his face gazing at Naruto's chest heaving and the small tear of sweat that spilled slowly down his neck. Something perverted and warm seemed to click inside of Sasuke at that moment and being, of course, a practical man, he concluded in that moment that he no longer was satisfied with the dream Naruto—He desired the real thing.

"You're welcome to touch me anytime you want, Naruto." The Uchiha heir purred as he placed his hands firmly on his hips. From the vacant look on the blonde's face, he hadn't caught the underlying message so slyly slipped in between the words.

"Ass-hole..." Naruto murmured, rushing forward with his fist clenched in front of him. Becoming more passionate and clumsy when the Uchihia heir egged him on, the wild fox child began punching fiercely at him, which Sasuke easily dodged. He even maneuvered himself in such a way that when Naruto swung his furious fist at him, he toppled over just as Sasuke skirted away. However, he didn't account for the blonde boy's wayward hand that latched unto his calf as he plummeted. Both collapsed into the dry, crunchy dead leaves on the forest floor and for one uncertain moment, they were knocked senseless.

Sasuke was the first to come to and his cheeks burned immediately when he did. He was sitting on top of Naruto's slim hips, his hands on either side of him. Beneath him, the blonde boy shifted and he almost hissed with the sudden friction…there.

Two cobalt eyes slowly opened and blinked and at that moment, another stray ribbon from his dream swirled through his veins and tightened around his belly. Everything made sense now—that feeling of completion gripped him as he stared into the two drops of clarity underneath him. Naruto…He wanted Naruto…

He'd always been there—always; A housefly buzzing at the screen door; a snake hidden in the undergrowth, not seen clearly, but still lurking. Naruto knew his pain; knew the cold and understood it, surely. He desired to wake up not to the ruins of a charming dream, but to the dream itself. He wanted to wake up every day to Naruto—the loud, horribly aggravating…lovely boy.

And so, with that practical, straight mind of his, he concluded he would make Naruto his bride. _No matter what. _

"Sasuke?" The blonde boy from his night time wanderings murmured groggily. The Uchiha heir smirked.

And that was when he kissed him. Demanding and needing, he devoured his small lips, enveloped in the wild, sweet sent of Naruto's skin. It was much different from his dreams… much better as well. The mouth beneath him was soft but stunned. Reluctantly, he pulled up and grinned crookedly down at his bride.

"Naruto…I want you to marry me."

It was the first punch Naruto landed on Sasuke all day.

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Naruto had thoroughly washed his mouth out eight times and yet he could still not get the Uchiha cooties all out. He had tried three different kinds of soaps, all of which were anti-bacterial and still not doing their self-proclaimed job of 'eradicating harmful germs'. He had even gargled hot water for ten straight minutes, however, his lips still tingled. When he put his finger to them they felt heated and swollen too—Just what jutsu did Sasuke use on him?

He had been shocked to say the least when the stony boy had pressed his lips to his and asked him—such an embarrassing question. Naruto could only see two fundamental motives behind Sasuke's odd behavior:

1-Somebody vindictive had kidnapped the original Sasuke and was currently trying to ruin his life.

2-Sasuke was screwing with him.

Naruto personally thought number two covered the situation pretty well.

It was ten a' clock when Naruto suddenly heard a knock at the door as he was brushing his teeth for the third time. Iruka had stated that he would possibly come over later for homemade ramen and so, without bothering to spit out the toothpaste, he went to open the door for him so he could start on the boiling water. However, who it was—definitely wasn't there for a cup of instant noodles.

"Faskay!" Naruto sputtered, swallowing the mint paste in his mouth. Coughing at the sudden burning as the goop slipped down his throat, he stared incredulously at Sasuke who leered evenly back with those blank, onyx eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I've come for you." The raven haired boy said, smiling softly.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. The tingling in his lips was just beginning to go away after this last wash and he didn't want to have to risk exposure to icky Sasuke cooties again.

" Well---I'm really busy now…Bye!" Quickly, Naruto slammed the door only for it to come swinging back open violently. Sasuke had snuck his foot through the threshold and prevented it from shutting. Both simply scowled at each other.

"Shall I make tea, or will you?" Sasuke inquired, pushing his way into Naruto's apartment while grinning conceitedly. The fox-boy's glare intensified. He would grant the bastard this round.

"Make yourself comfortable." He growled, stalking crossly to the kitchen to locate some form of tea. Behind him, he heard Sasuke sit down on the couch. The air felt terribly thick to Naruto, almost as if was congealing in his lungs. Placing the tea bags in the only two mugs he owned, he walked over to the couch and handed the steaming drink to Sasuke.

"Thank you." He hummed, blowing on the mist swirling off the tea and then hesitantly sipping. Swallowing, he smirked. "You won't make that bad of a wife."

Suddenly, there was a kunai positioned at a vital artery in Sasuke's neck. Naruto frowned down at the imposter.

"Just who the hell are you?" He snarled, increasing the pressure against his neck.

"Your fiancé, dumbass."

"You bastard! I'm for real! The real Sasuke doesn't act anything like this."

Sasuke—No the fake Sasuke sighed and seized the kunai gently. "Sit down and let me explain."

Naruto had a wild urge to scream 'like hell!', but decided that if he was going to get any answers, he would have to do as Kakashi often told him and 'act like an adult'. The kunai retreated from Sasuke's neck and the blonde boy plopped down on the other side of the couch, keeping a precautionary foot distance between them.

"It's an Uchiha tradition to marry in the spring of one's 17th birthday." Sasuke explained, taking another sip of his tea and grimacing. Even Naruto knew he was a terrible cook and screwed up anything that wasn't ramen or cereal. His own tea sat untouched and steaming on the coffee table.

"So?"

"I want to get married. I want a partner. I want —"Sasuke seemed to be searching for the proper word. He looked longingly down into his tea and smiled genuinely as if in the presence of a warm, fond memory. "—someone to be by my side."

"S-so?" He stammered, feeling uneasy all of a sudden.

Sasuke turned his profound eyes back to Naruto, gazing at him so intensely he felt the need to squirm.

"I want you."

Moments ticked by as Naruto sat there with those words bobbing boldly somewhere in the air above him. He wanted him? _Him?_ Every cell of blood in his short body surged up into his face and he suddenly felt the need to punch Sasuke for his shameful words.

"Damn you…" He growled, lurching forward to tackle Sasuke and knock that stupid, haughty sneer off his face. But it seemed he was expecting some sort of reaction like this, and the Uchiha heir instantaneously flipped the smaller boy over, imitating the very same position he had carelessly fallen into earlier by sitting on top of his hips. Before he could give Naruto the time to struggle, he leaned forward and deposited a soft kiss to his forward. Surely Naruto's cheeks were on fire—a torrent of heat skidded through him, making his limbs tingle pleasantly. It frightened him—Frightened him beyond anything in his life. He had never felt like this—so, heated as if he was under a fleece cover in June or as if someone was squeezing him all over, the only difference being he wasn't uncomfortable; not even in the least bit. Yes, it felt like little worms were racing up and down his skin, but he felt so—so—_warm. _

"Don't worry Naruto." Sasuke dipped his head beside the fox boy's ear and purred. Naruto felt the worms crawl and flip around in his stomach and shivered.

"We'll be warm together."

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Author's note, again: Gyaaaah! Shhhh! I know! Trite trite trite! And the grammar is terrible has already threatened my life. But, horah! I've never written that fast in my life. I love you, purlease review! (bwhaha, smut.) More is coming later.

_-Jane._

P.S-Forgive me, it's 2:21 in the morning and I may have overlooked some things.

I have reviiissseedddd! Yay!


	2. Warm Embraces

**The Warm Bride **

**Chapter two: Warm Embraces**

_Author's note:_ -blink- Wow. Thank you all for your reviews. I hate being cliché, and I felt like the last chapter was cliché x2. I wasn't so enthusiastic because well—I dunno, it was cliché and trite and all the things that make my organs shut down. I adore my laptop, ooohh I could just melt into it. Yay! More smut time…or minor smut. Um, how about—Hardly-smut-but-leading-to-it-could-be-foreplay-could-be-charater-development. Please review!

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Avoidance. A very un-cheery and quite bleak word that is literally defined as 'the prolonged act of avoiding.' Naruto had been for the past three days living his life in this 'prolonged act of avoiding' and he found avoidance a _rather_ lovely word. Except for the few instances he had been confined to covering in moldy trashcans, avoidance was really working out for him. He complacently concluded that he had to be good at this whole 'hiding' thing; he had only been unveiled a couple of clumsy times, but even then—he had simply bolted leaving his raven-haired assailant with scarcely anytime to figure out just what that strange orange blur was.

_Yes,_ he decided as he ducked into the black mouth of an alley and crouched behind several bulbous trash bags, _I am amazing at this._ No, not just amazing. He was the master—The undisputed champion of keeping away from gross perverts and—

"Naruto!" A strident voice reverberated off the dank, brick walls. Suddenly, one of the vital trash bags guarding him soared through the air and a perturbed Sakura stood in its place, smiling sweetly down at him. Naruto felt a chill rush his arms. To the amateur's eye, the delightful, well-mannered girl would seem to be grinning kindly down at a fallen friend; but Naruto was trained. He saw the corners of her mouth twitching madly to maintain the saccharine smile and her eyes which were squinted terrifyingly into two jade needles, ready and willing to pierce. She was pissed and he felt, all of a sudden, vulnerable.

"Where the hell have you been? You're an hour late!" She bellowed, swooping down, seizing his ear and pulling him up by it.

"Sakura-chan!" The lively blonde whined as he swatted hopelessly at his aggressor.

"Gah, you're even worse then Kakashi. He hasn't showed up either." She stated more calmly as she tugged him out of the alley and into the swarming Konoha streets by his reddening, tender ear.

It was the busiest time of the day; the market vendors were switching their dark signs on to flash 'open' ostentatiously, hoping to catch the eye of someone with a pocket flooded with cash; older ladies hobbled down the road in round, saggy clumps, clasping weaved baskets close to their bosoms, fearful some ninja punk would thieve their freshly acquired products. Ninja teams trekked through the bright village they protected with half-bored, half-determined eyes, clearly on their way to foresee a mission. A couple of stray, grungy-looking children chased after one another until their eyes connected with the sight of Naruto's struggle. He was compelled to pummel them when they pointed and laughed at his obvious disadvantage but Sakura only tugged harder and he was forced to obey for the price of his sensitive ear.

"Even though I've enjoyed the alone time with Sasuke-kun, it was really starting to bother me. Kakashi-sensei really needs to start setting a better example for us, especially having someone as impressionable as you on our team. What were you doing in that alley anyway?"

Naruto narrowly comprehended the words through his stinging ear. All that seemed to stick and envelop his mind, like thick honey, was the word 'Sasuke-kun'. He groaned as they reached the bench where they always met and felt his insides chill over as if they were stuck in the freezer for too long. There, sitting like a pampered prince on his ornate throne, was Sasuke. The Uchihia's eyes shimmered as they landed on him Struggling to hide his nervousness, Naruto glared hastily back.

Sakura proudly exclaimed, "Got him!" And finally released his ear which he quickly latched unto to ease the throbbing.

"I see that." The almighty ass-prince stated, leering at Naruto like a wolf eyes a free slab of red dripping meat.

Confrontation… Confrontation! He was definitely not ready for confrontation! What was he to say? What if Sasuke said something first? The blonde's head began speeding with anxious thoughts. _Why is he grinning at me like that? Why can't he be normal? What the hell is wrong with him? What did he mean by bride exactly? What is Sakura going to think when he spits out something icky? What am I going to do? What can I do? Oh god, what can I do?_

Firstly, he decided he'd attempt to calm down, but that stare. Damn that stare! That unwavering, haughty black gaze that examined him, measured him, and summed him up. He wanted to destroy it; Shatter it—so no one could see it and guess that he was the shameful object of a loner's perversion. Abruptly, his mind flashed an image of a few nights before when he was sprawled beneath Sasuke's warm weight with a tepid whisper flickering through his ear.

_What the—The bastard!_

It only took a matter of moments for Naruto to launch at his rival, a curled fist prepared to deliver a livid punch across his stupid, pale cheek. However, he was suddenly halted by a hand that grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Kakashi had arrived, once again, infuriatingly, in the knick of time.

"Yo." He piped, examining Sasuke then Naruto with a lethargic gray eye. "Isn't it a little early to be fighting?"

"Yes, I didn't even say anything yet." Declared Sasuke, crossing his arms and standing up. An impish, familiar glint glossed over his teammates eyes. Naruto knew this spark—He had recognized it whenever Sasuke said something weird.

_Please don't say anything—Please don't say anything--!_

"It seems just by my presence he's filled with the need to be close to me."

_DAMNIT!_

With a strength not even he knew he possessed, he retched himself from Kakashi's suddenly limp grasp and flew forward, flinging Sasuke down to the ground. There was a scrabble; the two rolling and twisting so fiercely, for a moment they appeared to be an orange and navy tornado, but in the end, Sasuke reined victorious, straddling Naruto beneath him.

"You don't have to pine so hard for my attention." Sasuke panted, smirking widely. Leaning forward, the tips of their noses scarcely away from touching, he said a bit softer. "If you want to be in this possession without the scuffle, you can just tell me and I'll be more then happy to oblige."

"Teme…"

This time, Sasuke was lifted up and off the fox-boy by the scruff of his neck. Naruto scrambled swiftly to his feet.

"Naruto, control your temper." Kakashi chastised lightly. He then rounded on Sasuke and instilled him with a sparkling gaze, as if he was hiding something very amusing under his ninja vest.

"Sasuke, save it for later." Before the blonde had any time to but irately in, Kakashi continued listlessly. "We have a mission."

Naruto's entire grumpy demeanor changed quickly. He absolutely loved missions, with the exception of those categorized in the d-class. They still were paid of course, but weeding an old obese woman's onion garden didn't strike him as very heroic. He enjoyed seeing what he was capable of and with the completion of every mission, he felt stronger and slightly wiser.

"What is it? Huh? Huh?" Naruto chirped, bobbling on his toes.

"A B-class mission."

Suddenly, an ecstatic thunderous howl echoed across Konoha as Naruto leapt three feet into the air. B-Class meant they were engaging into something important. An excited elation scuttled down his veins—He was going to get a chance to be valiant and daring! And to show Sasuke-- the dumb perverted bastard--up!

"Eeee! What are we doing? Ne? Ne?" The blonde boy piped.

Kakashi smiled at the fox-child's bubbling zeal while Sakura scowled at his childish nature. Sasuke on the other hand, looked like he was restraining very hard from doing something completely naughty and inappropriate for the current time and place.

"We'll be protecting a priestess from a couple of missing ninjas." He stated plainly. "We will be gone for a few days, but pack lightly. Meet you at the front gate in an hour. Ja!" Then, he disappeared as suddenly as he had arrived.

This was his ideal mission, Naruto realized while piling some clothes into his ninja pack. It had all the ingredients to make it perfect, but mostly, it held the one, central glowing fact that the priestess was a _girl._ He had no idea how to respond to Sasuke's –ehm- proposition (other then 'hell no!' of course) , but maybe if he and this hopefully striking girl happened to hit it off, the bastard would realize that he wasn't like a girl himself. How could another boy even like another boy? It just didn't make sense. They couldn't get married...

His heart sank somewhere down into his knees as a sinister realization crawled slowly into his mind .Come to think about it, just last year the village had celebrated the marriage between two ninja _males_ and wasn't Kakashi and Iruka…?

No, **damn it all,** no. He would not even begin to _begin_ thinking about Sasuke's proposal, which honestly, didn't seem like a proposal at all so much as a conceited command.

He was going to have to be discreet if he was to pull this ludicrous scheme off. Naruto still remained unconvinced that Sasuke wasn't just toying with him. It just seemed like the vile and devilish thing he was very much capable of. If he knew that Naruto thought he was possibly being serious and he really wasn't… He could never look Sasuke in his stony black eyes again.

There was also the possibility the bastard was an imposter.

Shaking his head, clearly weary of thinking, he slung his pack over his shoulder and set out to the gates where he was exceptionally pleased to see Sakura and _just_ Sakura waiting, tapping her foot lightly and glancing at her watch.

"Why can't anyone in this team be on time?" She asserted crossly as Naruto waved vivaciously at her.

"What?" The fox-boy checked his own watch and scowled slightly. "I'm on time!" He whined.

"_We're_ on time." A wintry voice corrected from behind him and the blonde spun reluctantly on his heels to distinguish the impassive, pallid face that currently bandied a self-assured leer. Glaring, Naruto huffed and immediately turned back around. Avoidance. He concluded he would pursue that divine route once again; it had worked for three days before.

As Sakura knelt to rummage through her pack, however, while mumbling something under her breath about grabbing the right color underwear, the raven haired nuisance situated his intense stare at the back of Naruto's head. He could almost feel it singeing the tips of his hair.

"Once we're back from our mission," Sasuke's voice softly wafted into his right ear, "we need to discuss a couple of things."

_Hell yes we do!_ Naruto almost blurted furiously, but uncharacteristically, he kept his words to himself.

_Avoidance._

Seemingly becoming bolder with his teammate's silence, Sasuke stepped closer to his turned back. Naruto could feel his hot breath tickling the tiny hairs on his neck. A foreign, sturdy hand latched unto his hip and the blonde restrained from whipping around and slugging him.

"About our wedding—" Sasuke leaned his head forward so his every humid breath could be felt and heard in Naruto's susceptible ear.

_Avoidance. Avoidance. Avoidance. Avoidance. Avoidance._

"—What're you going to wear?—"

_Avoidance—Avoidance—Avoidance—Avoidance--Avoidance!…_

"—And where we're going to go on our honeymoon—"

_AvoidanceAvoidanceAvoidanceAvoidanceAvoidance!_

A deep chuckle trickled down the blonde's ear that made him quiver, goose bumps cropping up as the rumbling sound seemed to journey straight towards his toes.

"—And what we're going to do there—"

_Confrontation. _

He snapped. Planting a firm, furious foot, he lashed around with a punch tingling in his fist when—

He was, once again, halted from massacring the idiot pretty-boy by a brawny hand on his collar.

"Yo. This is your second physical fight of the day." Kakashi, the frustratingly always-late man that could not halt the brawls from happening, but always kept them from escalating, said, waving a scathing finger.

"Whatever animosity there is needs to be alleviated. We are on a mission." He sighed. "In front of our client too."

Expectantly, Naruto whirled his eyes to the figure behind him with one thought streaming through his mind:

_I hope she's pre—_

But all thought capacity was lost at the mere sight of her. Naruto had seen lots of people in his lifetime and half of those faceless beings were women, but none could compare to her.

She was the most hideous creature he had ever seen. Being of an optimistic nature, he attempted to find her good spots, but he just couldn't get through the globs of horrible. She had a large, beak nose that kind of reminded him of a ski jump, with two brown squinty eyes that made her appear as if she was in a perpetual state of bliss. Even though she boasted a lumpy double chin, she was not fat, merely thick. Her cod lips, which she moistened several times, puckered to speak when no one would.

"It's wonderful to meet all of you." Her delicate, sweet voice seemed like a paradox to her awful looks. "Please protect me."

Kakashi remained composed and smiled. "Of course." He then rounded on his shorter teammates, eyeing them sternly.

"There are two notorious, though not all too dangerous, missing ninjas currently trying to assassinate Kumiko-san. If they faced us as a team, we could easily defeat them. Though, they specialize in duo attacks, so we must never go anywhere without a partner. Sakura, Kumiko-san, and I will always remain together, while you two must stay with one another."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Wailed Naruto, suddenly collapsing to his knees while clasping his hands together as if in prayer. "Please! Put me with Sakura! You know he and I—"

"Sorry, Naruto—" The fox child could plainly see a grin looming behind his teacher's mask. "But I believe the incentive of being unjustly mauled to death by two people will keep you and him together."

Naruto looked helplessly from Kakashi's smirking face, to Sasuke's supercilious mug, and finally to Kumiko-san's contorted nose.

He was screwed.

----------------------------------------------

-

Fifteen miles down the winding, dusty road, Kakashi suddenly felt a hesitant tap on his back. With his superlative ninja skills, he didn't even have to turn around to know just who it was.

"What's wrong Naruto?" He interrogated as the fox boy matched his stride beside him. Seizing a glance over at him, he could easily decipher from his disgruntled face what the nature of his business seemed to be.

"Don't you think Sasuke has been acting ehh—strange lately?"

Kakashi had to squeeze his lips together to keep his laughter from barreling out. Strange was an awfully interesting word to describe 'insanely horny'. But, of course, Naruto was utterly dense.

Opting for some convenient fun since the arid path could be no more tedious, he decided he'd play along.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto thought for a moment, his face scrunching in on itself in doing so, and then after finally seeming to grasp the most ambiguous words he could discover in his vacant mind, he put them to sentences.

"He's been saying crazy things and asking me weird questions."

_Oh, this is just too fun,_ Kakashi thought.

"What sorts of questions?"

He was pleased to see the bright, rosy blush that had harvested on his cheeks.

"Just—Weird questions. Trust me."

"Really, Naruto, I can't help you unless you tell me—"

Abruptly, Naruto scowled at Sasuke, who was strolling elegantly in front of them.

"I think he's an imposter." He interrupted heatedly.

_Please, you just can't be this—well, I guess you can. _Sighing, his fun obviously over for the sake of the mission (he couldn't have Naruto half-helping Sasuke because he thought he was a vile actor), he clearly defined, "no, I would have sensed that."

Naruto huffed, evidently unimpressed. Fine, the languid teacher would just have to affirm the obvious. It appeared to be the only way he would understand what was going on so blatantly around him.

"He wants to sleep with you."

Kakashi expected a revolted howl that would exceed a vocal pitch not even a girl could reach, or at least a flabbergasted expression shortly tailed by a furious curse, but—nothing. The only sliver of emotion that slid over his face was confusion.

"But, I don't understand! We sleep together all the time."

_W-What?_

Kaksahi stopped, completely forgetting the imperative mission at hand and simply ogled the blond boy, astounded. Halting as well, Naruto turned around and inquired if he was alright.

"But I thought—"

"Kakashi-sensei, you should know better then anyone else."

"I should?"

"Yeah! We take so many out of town missions Sasuke and me have to share a tent. We _have_ to sleep together. Where else would I sleep? The ground?" Shaking his head at his elite sensei's sudden bout of stupidity, he continued on up the road leaving Kakashi alone to his own workings.

_You can't be that—_Kakashi decided it was best if he left his sentence incomplete and began walking again.

-----------------------------

After spending eight hours on the lengthy, hot path, the sun finally retreated beyond the trees and the sky grew a dark shade of lavender. Kumiko-san had latched unto Sakura because she seemed to be from a shrine that only allowed women and so the two decided to pitch a tent together. Kakashi always slept alone, which left Sasuke and Naruto to awkwardly assemble theirs.

When inside, it took only 30 seconds for the hyperactive boy to wind down and plop over unto his side, asleep. Sasuke didn't have that luxury of instantaneous sleep; in fact, he highly suspected he wouldn't get a wink at all.

He was worried; worried that another sunny, sweaty dream would drift into his ears while he slept and cause him to wake up with a—very shameful problem. Even though Naruto was his future bride, he couldn't scare him (yet) with these sorts of issues. It was no cryptic secret that his fiancé was horribly dense and wouldn't understand him even if he attempted to explain. For all Sasuke knew, he could wake up to a sobbing, helpless Naruto whom was being vigorously humped by his sleep-walking self. No, tonight he would content himself in watching his bride toss slowly in his sleep.

One a'clock sauntered by, which was followed closely by two and then finally three. He had been laying down, with his hands curled comfortably behind his head, gazing up at the tent's ceiling and praying that his eye lids didn't plummet when suddenly, a warm hand landed softly unto his chest. His eyes wide now, he looked down and discovered the sun-kissed, petite appendage belonged to Naruto. Stealing a glance to make sure he wasn't awake, he gently tried to pry the fingers away but was matched with an irritated, groggy groan.

Fine, Sasuke smirked evilly, if Naruto wanted to put his hand on his chest and keep it there—Who was he to question? He was just about to relax in the touch when suddenly a furry mass fell unto his chest, preceded by a leg curling around one of his. Naruto was—well, cuddling with him.

Sasuke had always known that Naruto was the type of person whom slept with a large teddy bear or pillow at night simply because he always awoke latched unto something. Some mornings the Uchiha heir would wake up with his fiancé clinging desperately to his ninja pack, his jacket, sometimes even to him. It had never truly meant much, until now.

Now, Sasuke realized just how adorable he looked with his cheek pressed to the raven haired boy's bare chest, his lips slightly puckered and his sun-kissed hand contrasting with his own wan skin. In these drowsy hours, Naruto was completely compliant—He was completely his own. Just the way he wanted him, all the warmth to himself.

Hesitantly, Sasuke placed his arm around the snoozing boy's neck, which allowed Naruto to snuggle closer towards the heat. On his chest, he could feel his bride's sluggish, delicate breathing tickling his nipple though he had no naughty thoughts. Not one perverse reflection slithered into his mind because—tonight wasn't about that.

This was what it was like to hold Naruto; the boy seemed to meld perfectly into his side, as if Sasuke was missing a part of himself he hadn't known he misplaced. His hand tentatively plunged underneath the hem of Naruto's shirt and he grazed the boy's back gently, his tender fingers tracing swirls on his backbone. His skin felt soft and untouched and so blessedly warm. This was what it was like to hold Naruto. This was what it was like.

Sasuke Uchiha knew in that second that no one else could make him as warm as Naruto did. There was no better fitting bride anywhere.

**

* * *

A hasty and frantic author's note: FORGIVE ME! FORRRGGIIIVVVEE MMEEE! I'm so sorry it took forever to write this and then I decided I didn't like what I had at first and dumped it and so la-de-la. I didn't even decide to even continue this story until I got all the kind review and concluded I couldn't be one of those dumb prick-assess that just leaves a story to one chapter (-hesitantly looks away, knowing two others exist on her profile-) Thank you all so much by the way— Please review, I will continue faster then this I swear. (Summer sucked my drive away but the school year is back with a vengeance.) I love you!**

-Jane.


	3. Warm Silence

**The Warm Bride.**

**Chapter Three: Warm Silence. **

_The Giant Mundane Author's note: _Horah! This one will be lonnnggg—Or at least I'm planning on it being the size of a um—a lot. –Yawn- I'm tired but I need to write this, damn-it-all. I have virtually no time to ever write; I have band practice everyday til' 5:30 then I work at the Library for long long _looonnng_ periods of time, then I have an orchestra practice on Tuesdays-- But I have a satin pillow case. Yay! Nooo, sleepiness—leave, I have to write! Thank you sooo much reviewers—I'm going to start replying I promise. But only if you want me too—If you don't want me too, just say "listen you damn girl, I don't need any of your crazy words to satisfy me. Hmph." And If I don't cry for several hours then—well, nothing i'll cry for several hours. Um, please review I heart you a lot!

P.S: Gy_ahhhh! I'm a pervert!_

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It was warm. That was all that seemed to register to Naruto as he stirred. His thoughts seemed as slow and as thick as molasses, while his mind seemed glazed over in some soft, fluffy material that banished all traces of logic and reality. He loved this part of the mornings most of all; where he was neither awake nor asleep, but simply swirling in a cauldron of pleasantness and warm feelings. The beads of his dreams still remained in droplets along his arms that would slowly evaporate with the rising of the sun. Instinctively, he curled in closer towards the consoling warmth.

_Ew, _his pillow didn't feel right. It seemed solid and firm and not anything like the feathery heap he usually twisted around at night. Naruto knew he was a clinger; he had always been since he was young enough to remember. He had once owned a teddy bear that was blatantly a hand me down from its ratty display, but it had been his and no one else's and that had made it special; cuddling with it every night made the world seem less murky and gigantic. He had a friend—one that didn't control a mouth to spout mean things from like everyone else did. When he was eight however, a throng of rowdy prepubescent Ninjas ripped it from his hands, sliced it open with a kunai and then threw it into the river. Naruto had instantly jumped in after it to save his fallen comrade but the rapids were too fierce and he almost drowned. Now, he held a pillow at night—a flimsy substitute to the soft, tattered fur of his long, lost friend.

It was warm and he didn't want to disturb the hazy contentment of the downy moment by opening his eyes so he reached aimlessly over with his hand to inspect. Probing the perimeter of his pillow he discovered that its case must've slipped off somewhere in the cloudy night hours, for the surface was not as soft as he remembered. But, suddenly, while savaging its exterior, his hand brushed over an odd round-shaped nodule, protruding upwards slightly. He hesitantly poked it. It felt like a spongy button.

_I wonder what happens when I push it,_ he considered groggily. And so, he did. Once. Twice. Three times. Nothing happened.

" It doesn't work." He slurred aloud blearily, poking it a couple extra times for good measure.

"What doesn't work?"

The blessed, warm, merry, fluffy, happy-go-lucky unreality departed swiftly with the arrival of the tenor rumbling in his ear. His eyes shot open. Instantly, he felt as if he was staring out over a wavy, milky white lake, but upon blinking several times, he realized it was a chest; A very pale chest.

He was clinging unto Sasuke's bare chest and he had just been poking…

--Naruto felt all the blood currently residing in his body flood his face—

…_his nipple!_

"You perverted BASTARD!" He cried, bolting up and hugging his body protectively, as if his arms could defend against the wan boy's perversion. Lazily scratching his head, Sasuke sat up as well and eyed the fox child.

"Bastard?" He repeated calmly, his profound black eyes glinting crossly. "I wasn't the one jabbing someone's nipples in the early morning hours."

It seemed the remaining veins of blood that were lost finding their way to the cheeks the first time eagerly found their destination the second time. His face felt so heated he thought it just might melt off.

"That was—was—that was only—That was only because you were _strangling_ me while I slept!" Even Naruto knew that it was a feeble defense, but he couldn't very well be seen as weak, could he? He wasn't a fragile person at all…He wasn't.

"Strangling you?" Sasuke replicated once more, his voice elevating slightly. "You were _clinging_ to me."

_Damn-it-all_, his brain hissed. Of all nights, why had this been the one night he had clung to Sasuke? After that odd question had been carelessly tossed into the air? Sure, he knew sometimes he had cuddled up next to Sasuke, but Naruto typically awoke first so he noticed before the Uchiha stirred and stealthily untangled his body from his partners. He had always prayed he would never get caught in the act of doing so; it would be more than difficult to explain. He felt a subtle anger rising in his chest, but he couldn't find a direction to point it in.

"Well-I—You see, I sleep every night with a pillow and—" He anxiously twisted his blanket in his hands and bit his lip. Explaining it made him feel weak; almost unmanly. The last thing he had ever wanted was to feel frail next to this boy.

"Damnit!" Naruto howled irately, concluding anger was his best bet in escaping this with his pride. "You're just a stupid emotionless—" he fought his brain for a proper word and found none, so he improvised, "—idiot-ass-head!"

Sasuke scowled, his dark eyes flashing like the warning black dots in the vision of one about to collapse.

"Dobe." He declared. "Don't blame me for your terrible sleeping habits."

Naruto matched his glare with his own practiced icy stare.

"I have to pee." He announced hotly, promptly rising up and unzipping the tent. Behind him, Sasuke proceeded to get up as well, but Naruto spun around and held up an intimidating palm.

"What the hell are you doing?" He seethed, his voice rolling in fury not only directed at the pale boy in front of him, but also at his careless self. How could he be so stupid? How could his body _betray_ him like this?

"I'm coming with you." Sasuke stated simply, his eyes begging for confrontation on the issue.

"Like hell you are!"

"Kakashi said—"

Naruto hastily pushed Sasuke back down to the blankets below and glowered furiously at him. The confusion and frustration, gnawing away at him pleasantly for days now, seemed to burst forth fresh from the womb.

"I. Don't. Care."

Then, he quickly slipped out of the tent and zipped it shut again, leaving behind a very bewildered Sasuke behind.

The sun was still lingering somewhere beneath the horizon, for the sky was still a mellow navy and the moon still lay languidly among the stars. Silent stillness conquered the air because no animal, except those with predominately weak bladders, were awake. He was scouting out a proper tree near camp when suddenly a sweet, tinkling voice sounded behind him.

"Naruto-san?"

Turning around, he found himself face to face with a mammoth bird nose that up close—kind of resembled a dented kiddy slide at a park. Kumiko was still wearing her cotton nightdress and her dark, coarse hair was splayed in every which direction, though her eyes looked pink and swollen. It was obvious sleep had eluded her the night before.

"I'm glad someone else is up—it isn't so lonely anymore." She announced, smiling kindly at him.

Even though his bladder felt like a ticking time bomb, he took pity on the poor, disheveled woman in front of him and returned the grin. Offhandedly, he noted that her voice was thick with a strange, charming accent he had missed completely when he first met her. She hadn't spoken directly to him before.

"I know it's kind of creepy isn't it?" He replied. He scratched the back of his head nervously, un-sure of what to say next. Silence and he just didn't mix well.

"You know, I haven't gotten the chance to thank you all personally yet—"

"It's okay!" Interrupted Naruto quickly as he felt himself flushing, "You don't have to worry; it's our job."

"I know but—"She focused her eyes on her small, meaty fingers. "This is such a wonderful thing you are doing for me; risking your lives for someone you hardly know." Her diminutive brown eyes focused somewhere far from her fingers; in another world entirely. Her thick lips thinned and condensed into a wistful smile. "It's surprising what people will do for one another when they don't even know each other," --shadowy, sad clouds darkened her eyes-- "even more surprising what they'll do for the ones they love."

Naruto abruptly felt like he should be comforting in some way. It was obvious she was in distress and who wouldn't be with their life on the line? He felt the need to reassure her that they wouldn't let a thing touch her.

"Don't worry! We're getting paid. If you die we don't get a cent…" Realizing that his previous statement did nothing for 'comfort' and reassure', he quickly tried to amend it. "What I mean is—we wouldn't let you just die. Er, we wouldn't want you to be dead!"

He was astonished when he heard her light, ringing giggles as she looked up and covered him with a jovial gaze. Pinching one of his cheeks with two plump fingers, she beamed at him and Naruto had to admit that when her eyes crinkled up and her lips extended far upwards to form the smile, she didn't look _half_ as bad as before. An inner peace and merriment seemed to roll off her in clumps and it was almost communicable. She understood the joy of being alive and did not dare waste it on poignant thoughts.

"You are a sweet child."

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Concluding that the area around the camp was too insecure to commence his business (he didn't want Kumiko-san or worse, Sasuke to see him peeing) he stomped forward into the dark, motionless forest; his footsteps were thunderous in the quiet trees as twigs surrendered and shattered beneath his heavy foot. He was still very much fuming. Kumiko's amiable nature and kind words had bisected the rage focused on himself, but he still was irritated. He would rather crawl into a hole and die then to face that smirking, haughty face again. Realizing suddenly that he had traveled farther into the forest then he had initially desired, he spotted a good tree and let it rip.

Several seconds later, he began the trek back. Had he gone this way? Sure, he recognized that tree, or wait—It sort of was similar to the one over there. Hadn't there been some sort of boulder around here too? Maybe if he just hiked to the left he would pop back out at the road. But which way was left now that he had turned around so many times? Was it to the right? And just where was that bush teeming with red berries that had caused his tummy to rumble pathetically?

He was lost. No, he was temporality misplaced was all. Even he knew his directional skills were less than zero, but to get lost so easily? First he had cuddled up against his greatest rival/unwanted suitor and now he was standing helplessly in an eerily quiet forest with no idea from which way he had come from. He had only been up a total of 30 minutes and it already wasn't turning out to be a good day.

"Aww, look at the poor, lost little boy, Suzu."

Naruto stiffened as a brash, strapping voice, seeping with a deep accent, called through the trees. His hands instinctively itched towards his kunai belt.

"He's adorable! Can't we keep him?"

Another voice reverberated off the tranquil bark, this one softer and less edgy. Naruto inched his hand slowly inside his pouch to grab a kunai when all of a sudden, a glint of something metallic caught his eye and then—a razor-sharp pain erupted in his left arm. Looking down, he winced, finding a needle buried firmly in the crook of his limb. The pain extended quickly, boiling his blood up and down his appendage and causing it to tingle nastily, as if a thousand other invisible needles were pricking his skin and then—nothing. No sensation at all. Naruto's eyes widened as his hand fell limply to his side and swung their like a useless meaty glove.

"Now now, Suzu, we can't just pick up every stray we see." The first tone declared; a mocking laugh concealed in his demeaning words. "He may look cute but I imagine—"

Swiftly, Naruto retrieved a kunai from his pouch (with his good hand) and hurled it forwards so that it plunged into the tree he heard the voices resounding from. The bark around it cracked.

"Shut the hell up!" Naruto hollered, preparing to launch another kunai. "If you want to fight stop hiding and come out here!"

"Oh Sho! What a nasty little runt he's turning out to be." The second voice pruned. Another flash of metal signaled a new perilous needle and Naruto hurriedly ducked and rolled out of the way. Rubbing his throbbing head, he stood up slowly; wavering a bit with the unbalanced sensation from having one usable arm.

"Aww, he isn't so terrible after all."

The first voice sounded less muffled now and Naruto looked up to see two startlingly handsome men sitting on the branch of the tree he had previously flung a kunai at. The one of the left had a sturdy body, with long, flaxen hair that was carelessly tied behind him with a ribbon. His features were pointed and defined, as if his face was whittled tenderly from a block of wood. His counter part looked softer, with hair that was so fair it appeared almost white. A pastel lime painted his irises and his eye lashes were thick, dark, and long. Naruto didn't like them already; they looked too much like glamorous male models off a women's magazine cover.

"What the hell do you want?" Naruto howled, bandying a threatening kunai in direction of the lounging couple.

The soft boy's pretty green eyes glinted with suppressed mirth as his lips twisted menacingly into a sharp, sardonic grin.

"Look Sho—If we don't answer he's going to throw his sharp metal thing at us again and look what it did to the poor tree! We can't risk it."

The man dubbed Sho replicated his partner's smile with startling accuracy. They both resembled cats, snootily loafing above the rest of the world with their sleek, pointed faces. Naruto scowled.

"I guess we have no choice but to answer, my dear darling Suzu." Sho looked straight down at Naruto and the fox-child felt almost paralyzed as he focused his dark eyes on him.

"We are those cruel, ruthless assassins here to destroy that ugly, fat lump and her name." The man declared with an unnaturally detached tone, while his partner beside him—strangely—looked away, almost as if he was ashamed.

"We thought we'd attack you while you were not at your best." Suzu chimed merrily, regaining his composure swiftly while childishly swinging his feet back and forth. "I know that when I have a spat with Sho, I can't fight properly. We thought since, you know, you had that little lover's scrap with your boyfriend this morning that you would be at only half your game."

The fox boy's blood was surely becoming tired of having to ascend to his face by now; this had to be his third major blush of the day and he'd only been up for a few minutes. He began to stutter weakly. "He-He's not my boyfriend—He-He—"

Both men began to chuckle heartily and Naruto shamefully glanced upwards. Their laugh was not that of two sinister, hell-scent assassins, but rather that of two old friends chortling on an old joke over tea. They did not boast icy, wicked cackles, but warm, rich sniggers.

"Oh, don't try to confuse us." Suzu exclaimed breathlessly, the laughter still dancing in his gentle jade eyes. "We see how you two act together. He's rather aggressive too—Kind of reminds me of Sho. They know what they want and they grab it. He he, just remembering how _you_ decided to grab what you wanted, Sho, still sends me into a giggle fit."

"Ha, yes, speaking of which." The long-haired man stood up and grinned impishly down at Naruto. Lowering his voice, he questioned. "So, what base are you two on?"

Naruto stared dumbly at him. What was that supposed to mean? Sensing his bewilderment, he elaborated. "What I mean is how far has he gotten?"

Naruto stared dumbly at him.

Sho shook his head disapprovingly at Naruto's evident puzzlement and emitted that glorious, warm smile again. "Has he gotten into your pants—or are you taking it slow? Suzu and I consummated our relationship the first time we—"

Somewhere, in that jumble of words dripping out of the beautiful man's mouth, Naruto found the hidden meaning. It clicked as the blood drained from his face and collected somewhere near his knees.

"I—SASUKE'S NOT MY **BOYFREND**!" He howled boisterously. Then pointing an accusing, trembling finger at the two of them, he continued. "DON'T COMPARE ME TO EITHER OF YOU ASS-"

Naruto was suddenly overcome with several stabs of intense pain that spread through the winding arties of his body. He had been showered with half a dozen needles all landing in various spots on all four of his limbs. The force sent him spiraling into the tree behind him, where he found himself, unfortunately, pinned. His entire body tingled, like fire licking his skin and then there was nothing. There was no sensation, no feeling, nothing. Panicking, he attempted to move his arms but the electrical signal lost its spark on the way down and nothing moved—not even a twitch. His body was as still as the forest was in the wee morning hours. The only thing he was deemed control of was his head.

"W-what did you do to me, you bastards?" He cried, desperately trying to conceal his awful terror. He had been in many near death experiences before, but at least he could move and bandy his fists about and feel like he had some sense of control. But right now, he was feeble, powerless, and completely helpless; all he owned was his strident voice. It reminded him to much of the time when he was a child and all he could do was mouth off—that time no one could take care of him, not even himself. He found himself so terrified his mind went blank and no thought could pass through.

The comrades elegantly dropped from the tree and stalked forward until they were dangerously close to him. Suzu, who appeared to be the gentler of the pair, kneeled and tenderly ran his pallid finger along Naruto's cheek.

"This really frightens you—being powerless." He whispered sorrowfully, his emerald eyes folding contemplatively. "Don't worry. We're not going to kill you—we have no reason too. We'll just put you to sleep for a while, that's all."

"He doesn't deserve to know that!" Sho yelled furiously. "You're being much to nice to the little runt after he called us ass-"

Suzu abruptly straightened up, his spine becoming straight and firm, and situated his hands on his hips. "He was just doing what he knew to be right."

They shared a quiet knowing stare and the world seemed to fall back into its preordained silence. Naruto, somewhere in his trembling, terrified mind, wondered just what thought the two were sharing.

Finally, the elegant man huffed, crossed his arms and turned his back on the scene. "Fine then—Put him to sleep already then we can get this thing over with."

"You know it takes me a while to restore my Chakra." Suzu grumbled, turning away also to argue with his partner face to face. The two began bickering and Naruto utilized this time to figure a way out of this mess. What could he do with just the movement of his head? _Nothing_, he griped in his mind.

Well, he could wiggle. And so that's what he did—He wiggled and wiggled and wiggled. He felt the pressure on his limbs plummeting drastically. Examining himself, he discovered his body was fastened to the tree by the needles jutting in and out of his appendages. When he wiggled, they loosened from his skin and maybe if he could free himself from the tree well—he could crawl away using his chin. It was worth a shot, but he would have to buy time and the only way to do that was by using his only true talent—talking.

_Wiggle—wiggle. _"So, why do you want to kill Kumiko-san? She's a very nice person you know. She said I was sweet this morning. She has a pretty smile too."

Suzu's back stiffened as if he had been doused in ice water and Sho spun around to gaze intently at him.

"Because of that woman, I cannot love this man."

Naruto gaped, wiggling suddenly forgotten. "W-What?

The gentle man slowly turned around, a regretful smile singeing his face. "If you couldn't tell from our accents—we're foreign. We come from a village far below the fire country where traditions are sacred."

"We're not allowed to be in love there," Sho stated softly. "We're not allowed to even gaze at one another."

When the pair grew quiet, he ushered them along. "Because you're both…guys?"

Unexpectedly, Sho and Suzu began to chuckle greatly with their rich voices shattering the hushed gravity.

"Looks like we've caught ourselves a homophobe, my dear Suzu." Sho laughed, clapping his hand down gently on his partner's shoulder. Suzu wiped the tears from his eyes with an elongated finger, grinning.

"No, no, no" he affirmed lightly. "For other reasons entirely—Surely in the fire country men are allowed to wed and love freely?"

A fire ignited on his cheeks and heated his face. _Damnit!_ He was flushing again! When did he become so embarrassed over what other people said?

"Aww, he's blushing!" Sho chimed, squeezing his cheeks in between his burly fingers. "How adorable! I can see why your boyfriend likes you so much!"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Naruto whined pathetically, desperately wishing for the solemn and hazardous atmosphere back. His statement only made the queer couple laugh harder.

"So, just what is he to you then?"

"His fiancé."

A new voice sounded through the trees and Naruto felt a bubble of glee rise through him. The horror at his immobility had choked his lungs and made it hard to breathe but-- Sasuke had come to rescue him—Sasuke had—

The bubble burst instantly as the thought seemed to pierce it. Here he was, pinned to a tree, completely inert, surrounded by two flaming homosexuals. This definitely wasn't an ideal situation to be caught in. In fact, he rather wished he had 'been put to sleep' instead of rescued by Sasuke. He didn't want to think about that conceited smirk that _knew_ Naruto was completely vulnerable and totally dependent on him.

Suzu, on the other hand, was taking Sasuke's abrupt arrival joyfully, for he was jumping ecstatically in the air and pointing towards the Uchiha heir like he was superstar. He still adorned his Pajama bottoms with just the addition of a bright orange jacket…_His jacket!_

"Look Sho! Look! He's come to rescue his damsel in distress!" Cried Suzu cheerfully, clasping hands with his partner. They stared thoughtfully into one another's eyes.

"It reminds you of us, doesn't it? It's so beautiful--! Young love." They sighed in unison and turned to face the new entry into their maniacal party. Naruto concluded it was a good time to pick back up wiggling.

"Let him go." Sasuke stated simply, crossing his arms and glaring haughtily at the couple.

"I don't know why I should. You four are guarding me from what my love and I need most in the world—the death of that woman." Sho interjected, suddenly resting a palm against one of Naruto's cheeks (infuriatingly halting his wiggling) and softly ran his thumb along one of his whicker-marks. He would have shivered if he could feel his body. "He's so adorable too. Suzu and I have been wanting a pet for so long and he's so rambunctious—I would love the challenge to train--"

A kunai rapidly soared through the air at the elegant man, whom caught it unflinchingly between his fingers.

"Let him go." The furious Uchiha heir repeated calmly.

"Na uh." Sho grinned, waggling his finger. "You're going to have to fight me."

And they did. Suzu respectively stayed back, a kunai in his grip defending their claim on Naruto. The fox child watched the brawl with only mild interest. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he acknowledged Sasuke was an excellent fighter that only a scarce few could take down. So far, Sho did not appear to be any true gift to Ninjas everywhere; he fought with needles. Naruto concentrated mostly on wiggling—his feet were already un-hooked from the tree and he had his thighs almost completely undone when the fight was over. He wouldn't have even noticed had it not been for Suzu's tearful gasp.

Sasuke had Sho pinned on the ground with one arm looped behind his back. The elegant man's intense eyes were closed but his breathing remained even which meant Sasuke had obviously knocked the daylights out of him.

"Sho!" Suzu cried desperately. "Sho!"

Naruto watched, horrified, as Sasuke heaved another kunai from his pouch and placed it to Sho's throat. He had the enemy subdued already—What was he trying to prove? Searching his eyes, the fox child saw a blazing fury kindling inside them. He had something to establish—the blonde boy had no idea what though maybe—

A sharp point invaded his neck and all of a sudden, Suzu was standing over him with a needle set forebodingly against his jugular. Naruto glanced up curiously and all thought escaped him as he stared into the gentle man's suddenly frantic eyes. He appeared like a dog, pushed into a corner with no way out but to bare his hackles and fight.

"Release mine and I'll release yours." Suzu's voice was no longer soft but tense, like a piano string wound to tight. Sasuke narrowed his dark eyes.

"Why should I? My mission is to keep our client safe and how will she ever be that with two wild men always lurking in the shadows?" The dark haired boy leered complacently. "I should destroy you both right now."

Another silence collapsed heavily in the forest and Naruto began wiggling once more. His thighs were free, now his torso…

"If I am correct," Suzu began eerily evenly, his eyes narrowing into sharp, green blades, "then you will not risk what is most precious to you for someone you scarcely know. People don't work that way. They have priorities and this boy is one of yours."

Naruto glanced between the two helplessly. His torso was free; all he had left was his arms and shoulders. A tingling began to rush the areas liberated from the needles which was a welcome sign his sense of feeling was coming back to him.

"Sasuke damnit! Don't you dare let that bastard go! We promised Kumiko-san we'd protect her!" He cried irately. Sasuke didn't spare him even a glance. His eyes were focused solely on Suzu and the needle placed strategically against Naruto's vital artery.

"We protect those we care most for." Suzu said his voice still calm and flat. "Our love for them is wild and hard to define—we can only identify it as the sensation we suddenly have when one of them is in horrible trouble and we want nothing more then to jump in front of the kunai. If you really think about it, it's a dangerous thing—the knowledge that you would throw your own survival to the wind if you could allow that one person just a few more moments of breath. It controls and makes you do rash, stupid things you would normally never even dream of doing. It can make you crazy—make you angry—make you die--" Suzu suddenly licked Naruto's cheek and pressed the needle deeper into the soft flesh. Small gems of ruby blood rolled down his neck. "—_even_ _make you kill—_"

Naruto knew now there was no way Sasuke would hold the man and he was unsurprised, but none the less irritated, when the Uchiha heir dropped the limp body and backed away, his black eyes never leaving Suzu's face.

"No damn it! Don't let him go Sasuke I'm almost--!" A pale hand swaddled his mouth, and looking up, Naruto found Suzu smiling sweetly at the compliant boy in front of him.

"Good boy," He hissed, his needle retreating from the fox child's neck. His head suddenly plunged beside the boy's ear and he softly purred. "I hope we meet again Naruto. You are terribly adorable and very lucky to have a fiancé like him. Love him freely…"

There was a flash as Suzu darted over to his snoozing lover, delicately swinging his arm over his shoulder to support him and then—they vanished into the stillness of the forest. The cowardly sun peeked its flaxen rays through the miniscule holes in the foliage, creating the illusion that parts of the woods were glowing. Naruto gave one last wiggle, finally unhooking himself completely from the bark behind him, and tumbled forward to the grass below, only to be caught gently in the arms of Sasuke. They did not exchange words as the Uchiha heir attempted to place Naruto on his feet. He stumbled though, his feet not completely unthawed from the poison so Sasuke mutely hoisted him into his arms. Neither dared to shatter the silence. Neither dared to break the accepting, quiet world around them.

Naruto felt weak and stupid and just plain horrible with the unpleasant tingling ever present, but he didn't complain. He didn't know why—but he didn't complain as Sasuke  
carefully carried him back to camp.

---------------------------------------------

It didn't come as much of a surprise when Kakashi changed the partners upon the return of Sasuke and Naruto. He didn't ask for the specifics of just what went on in the quiet forest, he didn't have too. It was obvious something of great significance to their relationship had occurred; why else would Naruto allow the stoic boy to carry him humiliatingly in his arms all the way back into camp without so much as a word? The fox child was also covered in small puncture holes that were slowly dripping blood. Something had gone on—and he didn't have time to contemplate whether it was a change for the better or worse. It was just much simpler to change the teams. Now he and Sasuke were a pair, and Sakura, Naruto and Kumiko-san were braced together.

Naruto moodily marched down the sandy path. Every one of his appendages stung fiercely with each step, and his pride felt like it had splintered into billions of irreparable bits. He didn't dare take a glance back behind him where Sasuke sauntered proudly. A concoction of feelings of uselessness and weakness made his stomach feel tight. He didn't want to admit to himself that he could count on Sasuke; he didn't want to admit that he could not take care of himself—he did not want to admit that he depended on Sasuke because…

_What if he left him alone one day?_

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun." A tearful voice busted his miserable thought process in two. The fox-child looked into the unsightly face of Kumiko-san whom appeared to be close to tears, the small crystals clinging to her eyelashes and threatening to fall.

"Huh?"

"It's all my fault that you're in pain." She sniffled softly. "They're after me and I should just let them get me. My existence—all it does is create others such pain."

Naruto shook his head vigorously and stared at her earnestly. "No! I got hurt because I was stupid and got distracted by some weird, stupid things they said."

"But, you could've been killed!" She protested, her voice teeming with unfulfilled tears.

"Yeah, but I wasn't—So it's okay!" He chirped, offering her a bright, sunny smile.

"No," She shuddered. "It's not. I must carry some of the responsibility; one of them is my fiancé after all."

Gaping at her, Naruto's mouth suddenly fell open.

"But aren't they um—"

"Yes." She muttered, looking away into the forest that was now swarming with life and movement. The only silence now was produced in between words.

Naruto probed for more information, feeling surrounded by the lives of these three people. "So why are they after you then?"

She sighed, softly, as if it was the breath she had been clutching her entire life and began. "We come from a village south of here where the bond of marriage is seen as the most hallowed of unions. I was to marry Suzu; it had been preordained at both our births. He was from an ancient clan that wielded amazing poisons and I was from a prestigious family of healers. Our match was well planned. I grew up in anticipation for the day that he and I would be joined..." She grinned at the reflective memory.

"But, while I kept my heart locked up for only him, he carelessly lost his to a childhood friend, a man named Sho who threw needles. The only way they are allowed to express their love is if they are free of marriage—and Suzu is not. The only way to break that bond is through death—my death."

Naruto frowned and watched pitifully as the woman quietly cried, her shoulders trembling as the tears slipped down her plump cheeks. A sudden memory gripped him.

"_Because of that woman—I cannot love this man."_

"That's sick," He whispered, feeling sympathetic tears licking at the back of his eyes.

She laughed vacantly, wiping the tears always roughly with the back of her hand. "Isn't it? I joined the priesthood to hide from them and to help others thinking that maybe I could pay for my sin that way."

"You haven't sinned at all!" Naruto suddenly cried, a flash of fury streaking through him. "It isn't your fault! They're weird lunatics that only care for themselves!"

"No, Naruto-kun," she said lightly, presenting him with a watery, rueful smile. "They cannot love because of me. My existence creates a boundary between them. They can touch and hold each other as much as they want, but they can't give their hearts freely to one another because I have stolen Suzu's heart. I am a thief."

She turned her passionate russet eyes on him, which swirled like muddy water because of her tears. Naruto was paralyzed with their intensity—they strapped him to reality with tight chords and forced him to face the future.

"Love your fiancé freely—but don't ever steal their heart."

Flushing, Naruto looked down to the path below and murmured, "He's not my fiancé."

--------------------------------------------  
-

They arrived in the priest covenant by noon and exchanged good byes with Kumiko-san. Sasuke waved lackadaisically at the repulsive women while Naruto heartily shook her tubby hand. Finally, she whispered, "Be good," patted him tenderly on the back and strolled tentatively inside, ornery priestesses on either side of her obviously miffed that someone as dangerous as her was coming to stay in their home.

Naruto felt a little less gloomy then before as he strolled back down the path with team seven at his side. It felt like he was leaving the entire mess behind him. There was nothing more he would love then to know Kumiko-san was okay and that she would live a long happy life. He prayed he could soon forget everything that happened on this horrible day and that only his hopes for Kumiko-san would remain.

--His hopes were dashed however when a needle suddenly pierced the tree beside him. Kakashi speedily unsheathed a kunai, Sakura and Sasuke following hurriedly after, but Naruto just stood there, gazing at the sinister slither of metal, his heart sinking rapidly as his breath hitched in his throat.

It was not a needle that had missed its mark. It was conformation.

Naruto took off, flying down the road at a dizzy speed with his team not far behind; they seemed to have worked out the alarming meaning behind it as well. There was no time to knock, the doors were open anyway, and he sped into the temple's main hall slowing down only we he eyed a band of people gathered around something and staring down.

Nothing seemed to make a sound anymore; the only thing he could hear was his own ragged breathing which crashed against his chest heavily. He walked slowly forward and the priestesses looked behind them, their teary eyes noticeably alarmed by his presence, but they stood back anyway. There she lay.

Death had molded her more beautiful then life did. Her dark locks were folded lovingly across her revolting face and a glimmering thin needle jutted out from her chest like a crude necklace. Her one exposed russet eye shined like a glossy marble.

Kakashi bent forward and gently plucked the thin slice of metal from her chest and examined the wound with a proficient eye.

"This was a mercy killing," he announced softly. "A direct hit to the heart. She didn't feel a thing."

Abruptly, Naruto's stomach began to churn and toss warningly, and he sped outside where he began to hurl. Vaguely, he was aware that Sasuke had arrived behind him and was rubbing his back.

--------------------------------------------

It hadn't taken long for them to make it back. Without the burden of protecting anyone, they could race home easily. They entered Konoha at night and wordlessly departed. Each one of them knew they had completed their mission, but they still felt like failures.

As he entered his quiet home, Sasuke concluded he would fix himself a cup of warm chamomile tea to relieve the tension in his body. Today had been a trying day and his nerves felt rather frayed.

Steaming tea in hand, he plopped down into his favorite arm chair and allowed the silence to envelop him, but he did not enjoy it. He did not desire anymore silence today—he wanted sound and life.

As if on cue, the doorbell chimed through the ancient house and, sighing, Sasuke set down his mug and reluctantly stalked to the door. He was stunned to see it was Naruto.

His brilliant azure eyes only gazed at him for a second before darting down to the ground like two frightened puppies.

"Teme…" The fox child acknowledged quietly, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Dobe." Sasuke affirmed, stepping back and allowing Naruto into his house. The boy wordlessly entered.

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Author's freakin' note: OH MAH GOOSHDA! It's finally done! 17 freakin' pages of SasukexNaruto luvin'. Forgive the boring-ness of this chapter. I hope you all understand its importance. If you spot any plot holes please wait to tell me until after you read the _next _chapter because some things will be explained in there. Like why some characters did what they did. Suzu is a girl name but it's okay—it's the most adorable name for a boy I've ever heard. I hope you didn't mind my original characters to much—I swear they won't appear again. Eee, please review I heart you to pieces! Time to reviiisseee! Ps: What the hell happened to the happy magical seperating lines on the editor thing?


	4. Warm Night

**The Warm Bride.**

**Chapter four: Warm Night**

**Bwhaha, the wicked author's note prevails: **Eeeee! I'm so sorry again for being horrible and never updating. I have half a million things going on right now—Band and work and school and band and biology II (-sobs-) and band and band and parades and football games and needy friends and kittens and band and just all sorts of things. The only way I get to write anymore is if I overlap things. I began writing this at work but I was afraid my supervisor was going to come up behind me and die from all the lovely smut. So—I waited. I have a ciiggaarrrr! I'm illegaallll!

Um, please review I love you whom have and do! I write this only for you guys really—I am ashamed of this story's triteness. But, also, I enjoy thinking about Sasuke and Naruto getting married too much to pass this up. Can't you just see them in these cute little kimonos and they're standing on the alter and Sasuke let's slip how much he really wants to tap Naruto right in front of everyone…and then they fight and fight and then consummate later on? –sigh—I love you!

P.s. I'm writing with only one hand because I just burned my mother f hand on my mother f curling iron and now it burns like a mother. Wow, I sound completely smart.

P.s.s: I'm going to answer a question one of my reviewers asked about the chapter title. I forgot your name (sorrrryyy) , so just pretend you know who you are.( I considered the silence very warm. It's like, people are diluting the silence and stillness of the world with their imperfect words. As theatre of the absurd says: Language is useless and crap. Whatever you say, it's meaningless. Actions are what spell out what you feel and think—words are just a defective medium. That's why the silence was warm—it was the time when everything was okay and people were, in a way, perfect because their dumbass mouths weren't moving. Does that sound confusing or stupid? It made sense in my mind, sorry if it didn't come through).

P.s.s.s: I'm writing this 10,000 feet in the air. The airplane. Deeeeear lord—I hate heights.

* * *

-

-

It was strange how quickly the temperature had plummeted from midday. Even though it was still partly winter, the sun had blanketed the world in a very mild warmth that had made frolicking outside with a jacket completely reasonable. Though, when the sun slipped beneath the horizon, the world seemed to have rescinded right back into the bony hands of winter. Naruto had been forced to throw on his heaviest coat and scarf just to stroll outside.

It had been about one in the morning when the team had arrived back in Konoha with disappointed, slumped shoulders. Naruto figured everyone had probably gone home to sleep contentedly beneath their covers, forgetting their failed mission as their eyelids drooped and finally fell. But not Naruto—he knew the moment he ambled into his frigid, frosty apartment that sleep was to elude him tonight. He didn't waste any time even trying. Immediately, he grabbed a thick jacket and proceeded right back out the door.

When he was younger, his sleep had been swamped by nightmares. He had never been able to remember them; he'd simply stir with a terrible fear immobilizing him as if a dozen invisible demons were holding him down. Learning early on that getting back to sleep after such a heightened sensation was nearly impossible, he'd walk the streets until the first frail stretch of sunlight had glided off Hokage tower. He had committed every road and alley to memory by now and so tonight he decided to take the scenic passage through out the desolate, dark streets of Konoha.

Because of its diminutive nature, the village hiding in the leaves completely shut down at eleven a' clock. With the exception of the bar and the all night grocery, every store-front displayed a vacant black window to which created a terrible lonesome feeling inside of his chest. Looking at his reflection in the glass, he found that his face seemed to glow faintly with a tendril of moonlight slipping across his face, making him appear like some estranged, lost ghost—searching aimlessly, but never finding. He slowly drew away from his ghostly manifestation and continued to trudge forward. Shivering, he pulled his jacket tighter to fend against the sudden icy draft that had seized him. He hadn't felt this way in a long time; so lonely that his stomach churned, seemingly as if it was holding itself for comfort. Ever since team seven had regrouped, he had never felt alone, even when he was sitting in his apartment clearly without anybody near him. Always, _always,_ he felt like there was someone there if he needed them. But now—where had that warm security fluttered off to? He felt nothing but cold.

When the twisting and coiling sensation in his tummy felt almost unbearable, he bolted. He ran from all the nonsense of the day; from the unearthed feelings of guilt; from the very cold weight of loneliness. Across a barren street, through a black alleyway, down the throbbing main road of Konoha, _Across—down—through—across—a left—_

The chilly air had begun to claw his face and make his nose drip by the time he halted. He panted, his lungs desperately reaching for even a thread of air that didn't singe them with a bitter frostiness. Naruto then looked up.

He was standing at the mouth of the imperious Uchiha complex gateway, the iron opening jutting out of the ground like two angry fists locked in mid air. Why had his feet led him here? He didn't know why exactly he walked right beneath it without a second thought, maybe he was just that cold. Reaching Sasuke's specific door, which connected on to a mansion that looked as if it could fit thirty of his own apartments inside it, his hand went to knock against the wood—but it froze in the air. What exactly was he doing there? He really didn't have a valid reason for just showing up on Sasuke's doorstep in the middle of the night, or wait, morning. He'd probably think he was crazy, call him an idiot, and shut the door right in his face. For a moment, he stepped back from the suddenly very terrifying door. The brass knob seemed to sneer at him and whisper: _Dobe, dobe, dobe. _

Then, somewhere filed in his mind a shameful memory fell into his thoughts and he recalled the night a couple of days ago when Sasuke had forced himself into Naruto's apartment and straddled him on his own couch.

_Don't worry, Naruto, we'll be warm together. _

Scowling, he marched right back up to the door and instantaneously jammed his finger against the doorbell. Immediately, he wished he hadn't as he heard the ancient, rusty bells chime inside. Soon, the door was gently opened and two widened dark eyes regarded him quizzically before they reverted back into their sly, haughty shape. Alarmed, Naruto adverted his own eyes and glared down at his ragged ninja sandals,

"Teme…" He affirmed quietly, not entirely sure what he was supposed to say. He desperately tried to think of something that would give him a rationale reason to be standing on his doorstep at 2:30 am, but not one sentence came to his rescue.

"Dobe.."

His lack of coherent words seemed to make some sense to Sasuke, for he stepped back and allowed him to enter.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Hm?" Naruto looked up from his anxiously knotted hands twitching in his lap to stare at the vacant threshold of the kitchen where Sasuke had called out to him. Naruto really had had no idea just how loaded the Uchiha heir was until he first walked in. The craftsmen of his home really had paid a close eye to detail. Every threshold and molding boasted smooth carvings of long, livid looking dragons and forlorn masks. The dark, navy walls were scattered with regal family portraits and paintings, while every table top carried a vase or a decoration of some kind. Even as ornately built his house seemed to be, Naruto grew sad as he gazed through the living room into a dark, dusty hallway that looked as if no man had trod it's hardwood paneling in many years. There seemed to be really three rooms Sasuke lived in, the kitchen, his bedroom, and the living room.

"That bundle of leaves," Sasuke replied, "that if you boil, a very good tasting liquid comes out. It's the stuff you can't make to save your life."

Naruto was suddenly agitated. Why did Sasuke have to be such a damn jerk all the time?

"I know what tea is, teme!" He untangled his hands to cross his arms irritably against his chest. "And for your information, my tea is amazing. You just don't know what good tea tastes like."

Sasuke entered the room carrying two steaming mugs and offered one to Naruto, whom took it with a very quiet 'thanks'.

"Whatever you say, dobe." Taking the chair adjacent to him, Sasuke gently blew across his tea before sipping it and stared at the blonde haired boy almost expectantly.

What was he supposed to say to him now? Naruto couldn't dredge up anything logical to explain his presence. He could make small talk—chat blithely about the suddenly very cold weather, the trees, bunnies, but these things did not seem like they could withstand a conversation between the two. Sasuke and Naruto didn't engage in useless talk; they kept things honest, clean, and open for everyone to see. But, he just couldn't think of a damn thing to say.

Moments of silence passed, amplified by the loud, deep ticking of the tall grandfather clock in the corner. Naruto was desperate to split the quiet in two; he had had enough of the absence of sound for one day—he wanted noise, blessed thick noise to tie his mind into another world so he didn't have to view this one any longer.

Sighing dejectedly, he concluded on offering up a stupid, careless conversation on ramen—but that was not the topic that emitted from his lips. As Naruto looked up from the misting, red mug in his hands and directly into Sasuke's limitless black eyes, he was suddenly struck with an idea that manipulated his mouth.

"Why didn't you kill that man when you had the chance?"

Sasuke frowned and lifted his tea to his lips.

"Isn't it obvious? That other man would have killed you just as soon as I did."

"So?" Naruto suddenly spat, a fiery fury gripped him as his insides twisted and moaned with an unbearable guilt. "She was our client! Our responsibility! I could protect myself, but you just went right in barreling through and being selfish!"

"Yes," Sasuke mocked, sitting his cup on the table to cross his arms. "You were doing such a fine job of keeping yourself out of trouble, I should've just trusted you to carry on."

"She didn't have to die, teme! We could've saved her—I-I-"Naruto felt his gut coil with a fresh wave of guilt and his breath hitched in his throat. He needed to shake if off—somehow—. "Y-you!" He suddenly cried to Sasuke. "It's your fault she died! It's your fault she had to die!"

The guilt seemed to ebb away slightly when he pointed and maniacally accused Sasuke. It felt almost as if the edge was chipping off—making it easier to hold without getting cut. Leaping out off of the couch, his mug crashing to the floor and splintering into several red portions, he growled at the Uchiha heir sitting calmly before him.

"If you had of killed him when you had the chance, then the other would have been powerless! If you had attacked before hand, then she would have lived!"

Sasuke's black eyes flashed momentarily with anger, making them manifest the appearance of two shiny, black stones situated under the sun at midday.

"Really? And had you not been caught, couldn't you of finished them before I even arrived?"

Naruto grimaced as the statement seemed to literally slap him in the face. It was always his fault—always. There were so many times he had been the single reason for the downfall of others. Who had weeded the flowers out of Takahito-san's garden and single handedly failed team seven's first mission? _Me._ Who had stolen the wrong scroll off a table in a significant mission, which threw off the entire schematics of the assignment? _Me. _

Who killed Kumiko-san?

"Me," he sighed aloud, flopping back unto the couch. A cloud of dust curled up from the aged cushions as the rusty springs moaned in agony. "It's always somehow my fault isn't it?"

Silence slipped its slick tail back into the room as the fox child rested his head back against the head of the couch and slowly closed his eyes. A massive headache was brewing just behind his right eye and his mind ached with unfulfilled rest. All his thoughts sped by so quickly they just appeared to be smudgy white blurs. It was like he wasn't thinking anything at all, but it was not a serene sensation in the least. Each thought seemed to mummer weighty, accusatory words into his ear until he just had to say something to hear his own voice again.

"Why do people even have to die in the first place?" Naruto rubbed the tender spot between his eyebrows. "I mean, doesn't it seem pointless?"

"Hn." If there was one thing he despised about Uchiha, despite all the thousands of other things he absolutely couldn't stand like his duck-butt hair and arrogant, all-mighty demeanor, it was his 'hn's. They were his way of suppressing a laugh; something the blonde was sure Sasuke was completely allergic too. It was meant mockingly, as if he was secretly amused at someone else's stupidity, but too insolent to keep all the giggles to himself. Naruto looked at him and glowered.

"That sounds just like the kind of moronic question you would ask, dobe."

"What the hell do you mean? You've never thought death was pointless?"

"It does serve a point." He was beginning to despise how collected Sasuke had remained through all Naruto's boisterous ranting. The calm boy nursed at his tea. "Population control."

"Population control?" Naruto repeated feeling very disgusted. "So we die so others can have a place to live? Is that what you're saying teme?"

Sasuke nodded. "Something along the lines, yes."

The clock's ticking pointed out another tense, quiet moment and Naruto felt a small, sad bubble welling inside of his chest.

"That's really…sad."

"Yes, but someone like you would think of it as sacrificing themselves so that others may live."

Naruto looked up at Sasuke and regarded him with miserable eyes.

"Someone like me?"

"Yes, someone as completely naive as you."

_Naive._ Yes, that was the proper word to portray him. Always, always, always naive—like a deaf child wandering carelessly over a train track with the threatening sound of clunking metal in the background. Naïve—stupid—dumb…He contemplated a moment, gnawing reflexively on his upper lip. "If no one died though, then we really wouldn't need to reproduce."

"Yes, and that would be an unspeakable tragedy." Sasuke, for the first time that night, seemed honestly sincere. Ignoring his blatant perversion, Naruto carried on.

"Then we wouldn't have any more people then we started with. Everyone would have a place and the population would be steady." Feeling a grin flicker victoriously unto his lips, he continued. "Death is pointless, see?"

Slowly, as if locked in the cement between his own words, Sasuke sat his mug carefully down unto the coffee table, leaned back into his armchair, and gazed at Naruto pensively.

"Life needs death, Naruto. You can't have one without the other."

"And just why not?"

Sasuke sighed, his lips parting like an aged book down the middle. "Because humans can't understand the concept of forever. It's unknown—unable to be characterized. There needs to be a beginning and an end to organize life; sort of like day and night."

A flare of fury sent Naruto to his feet again. "But why? Why can't we understand forever? I can! It means that no one has to suffer. No one dies—no one ever suffers."

"That reasoning is flawed." Sasuke declared softly. "People will always suffer. We create it when our needs or desires are not met. Living forever cannot account for every need."

Tears began to claw at the corners of his eyes, but he did not allow them to trail free. One of the most shameful things he could do right then would be to sob in front of Sasuke like some oversized baby. He would not display his frailties—he couldn't afford to have Sasuke judge him like that, not after finally winning his recognition.

"But it would! We could do whatever we want, when we want and not have to worry about dieing. We could be friends with whoever we want; love whoever we want freely because—because then they could never leave us…" His tight guard on his eyes slipped only momentarily and a small drop glided down unto his nose. _No--!_ His throat felt as if his breath had congealed into a ball in his neck. When he spoke, his voice was scarcely a whisper. "Because...they couldn't die."

The cork came spiraling out. Tears now plummeted liberally down his face, leaving watery, miserable tracks in their wake. It was over now—the pressure in his body subsided as he allowed his grief to devastate him. He fell limply back to the couch and simply sat there with his hands clinging frantically to his face to stave the flow. Enveloped in his own shame, he hardly noticed the new additional weight beside him that made the aged, creaking springs in the couch scream tearfully. Then, there was something abruptly tepid spread across his thigh. Peeking through his fingers, Naruto found that the mysterious warm object was in fact Sasuke's hand. Another wandering hand found his chin and tenderly twisted it so he now was compelled to stare Sasuke straight in the eye. Naruto felt worms wiggle in his stomach as he gawked blearily at the Uchihia heir's suddenly gentle black eyes.

"Is this why you won't allow yourself to be close to anyone?"

From then on, Naruto's mind became muddled and hazy. He hardly felt himself being lowered back unto the couch; hardly registered Sasuke's warm body perched over his own, his legs bestriding him. Somewhere in his cloudy far-off brain, a flicker of fear reverberated. His reply slurred as it seemed to drip out the sides of his mouth.

"I allow people to get close to me."

"No you don't." Sasuke responded swiftly, his face edging closer to Naruto's. Quivering at the small span between their noses, he glanced at Sasuke's half-lidded eyes and then shifted his own. "You allow them enough leeway to know you, but to never _understand_ you. Any secret of yours is never told but found out accidentally."

Naruto sniffed; the salty water remaining on his face made his skin cold. "I—That's not true."

"Really?" Sasuke countered, his face plunging all to close to his own. Naruto's eyes clasped tightly together as he felt the Uchihia heir's lips softly kiss the lingering tears.

"Then prove me wrong." Abruptly, he drew up. "Tell me a secret."

Naruto felt warm all over. Every wire in his body was frazzled, the tips short circuiting and prohibiting any use of his arms and legs to attempt to pry himself out from beneath Sasuke. His face was so overheated that he could almost feel how red it was. Everything was foggy and so damn warm.

"What?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed; his undivided attention pooled into staring Naruto straight in the eye. It was as if a line was created between the two; a stiff, sharp line that bore directly through their pupils and right into the deep cogs of their mind. "A secret. I want a secret."

Breaking eye contact quickly, he squirmed and lightly nudged his offending partner on top of him.

"This is stupid, Sasuke. I'm going home."

Another squirm, another wiggle, each matched with Sasuke's unwavering figure. Becoming promptly agitated, the warm fog ebbing slightly from his mind too, he opened his mouth in preparation to lavish Sasuke with hundreds of curses when, suddenly, his lips were covered. Sasuke had leaned forward, obviously sensing the stream of slander ready to spew forth, and kissed him.

His lips were light and feathery against his own. The sweet tenderness of the movement his teammate's mouth made threw chills up and down his back and sent the worms in his stomach into a frenzy, wiggling all around. Hesitantly, Naruto matched his gentle rhythm, but only slightly. Sasuke did not become feverish with lust however with the introduction of Naruto's tentative lips, no, he remained just as tender as before and drew up moments later. As if the haze in his mind had doubled, Naruto became silent and still as he gaped, as if hypnotized, by the flakes of light cinnamon brown in Sasuke's profoundly dark eyes.

"A secret." He commanded, lightly panting. Feeling horribly silly and very ashamed of his previous actions, Naruto delved deep into the forgotten archives of his memories.

"I don't really have any that you don't already know." He announced after a moment of pondering. Sasuke then began to lean forward deliberately. Alarmed that another startling kiss was coming, Naruto abruptly turned his head away, but Sasuke only nuzzled his cheek. He murmured in his ear, allowing his breath to purposefully swell inside of it.

"Everyone has their secrets and you more than anybody. Don't you desperately want to prove me wrong?"

"Yes."

His cheek was snuggled again as a transient kiss was softly fixed upon the small dip between his cheekbone and eye.

"Then tell me yours."

"I don't like cats. They always scratch me."

"Deeper." Sasuke growled in his ear as he leisurely licked its shell. Naruto's back arching slightly at the touch, his mind seemed to have completely clouded over with a thick mist that prevented any rational thought to be assembled.

"I used to have a teddy bear. But some kids threw it in the river."

His partner snorted in his ear and the tickling sensation of his breath shot through his veins and sent the little hairs on his arms spiraling upwards.

"That's obvious. I want _more_."

How did Sasuke do this to him? One moment he was completely rational, a little bedraggled yes, but logical all the same and now…He was an ineffective lump of flesh bending to every one of the Uchihia's commands.

"I-I don't really like Ramen all that much."

Silence. Abruptly, Sasuke sat up erect and gawked down at Naruto. Twiddling his thumbs, he nervously laughed.

"Ha, well see—I mean it's good. I like it okay but I'm definitely not as crazy about it as it seems. Well I am, but not because it tastes good or anything like that, but well it does taste good but not—"

"Elaborate." Sasuke demanded.

"Well, um, since I was little I've always kind of felt…"A fresh wave of tears cropped up beneath his eyes and he paused to collect himself, not desiring to weep freely again. Really, what was wrong with him tonight? He knew he cried sometimes but twice in one night, in one hour, in front of his arch rival/scary man suitor? Just what the hell was going on with his emotions?

"Felt?" Sasuke waited for him to continue rather impatiently.

"Felt an empty feeling in my chest." He finished a little too loudly as he struggled to push his words through the lead-like lump in his neck. He wanted that to be all—for Sasuke to figure the rest out without having to elaborate further, but his teammate's curious gaze disallowed that.

"Ramen is hot and I like mine scalding. I realized when I ate it so hot like that that the empty sad feeling in my chest seemed to go away kinda. I think it might be because it burned my throat and it throbbed so I got my mind off it or maybe it was just so warm and I was always…so cold, but it just went…"Feeling as though he couldn't look any more weaker and stupid in front of the Uchihia heir, he permitted his tears to cascade. "…away."

He sobbed. He knew that Sasuke must be thinking he was puny and unmanly, but he wept nonetheless. Sasuke bent forward again and began to hurriedly kiss several spots on his face, his sopping eyelids, his wet cheek, the tip of his nose. Unlike last time however, Naruto found he could not halt the flow. His shoulders trembled and his eyes drowned as he just kept crying, the misery of the day finally bobbing to the surface and consuming him.

His partner seemed to of realized this and shifted his body so that he was lying aligned next to him on his side so that his arms could completely clutch him. Sasuke was holding him, accepting how obviously pathetic he was. Hiccupping miserably, he turned into his wide, open arms and cried unreservedly into the downy fabric of Sasuke's shirt. The arms, in turn, encircled around him and gently rubbed his spine.

Outside, the dark navy sky remained emotionless to the transition occurring inside the massive, dusty house below it. The stars still glistened with the same light as before; the moon still plucked the same haunting ballad with the iridescent rays it emitted. The world did not take any notice in the evolution of the two boys, from simple friends to something entirely different and undefined.

He didn't know how long it took for his tears to finally ebb, but he knew that it had to of taken a while. Sasuke's shirt he had seized in his fists was drenched. He felt so ashamed, his face and insides were blazing with it. Just letting a couple of tears slip would be enough shame to deal with but no, he hadn't just cried, he had _sobbed_ and had clung desperately to Sasuke as if drowning. Lightly, he attempted to push off out of Sasuke's arms to run with his tail securely between his legs and hide, but the limbs around him gripped him like steel bars.

So, he simply laid there, the grandfather clock and his occasional sniffles the only noise resounding in the room. He stayed awkwardly still in Sasuke's arms, unsure of how exactly to lever himself out. Closing his eyes, he contented himself by listening to the ringing of the clock in the corner.

_Glock._

_Glock._

_Glock._

Naruto sighed. It seemed fitting that the majestic and ornate grandfather clock was broken; it didn't exactly tick on every second and it seemed to burp instead of chime. Everything in the aged, cold house was dying. He could see why Sasuke was so eager to hump and hold unto him—he was the only bright, vivacious object in the whole complex. It didn't make Sasuke any less crazy in his eyes though—he was still absolutely insane.

"You know I'm not a crybaby." Naruto finally croaked after he couldn't take the sound of the burping clock any longer. His voice was strangely tight and hoarse.

"I know."

Naruto looked up at Sasuke's chin that had been resting pleasantly on top of his head.

"I don't normally cry this much."

"I know." His partner's face stayed impassive, but his eyes seemed to be glowing with mirth. Naruto glared.

"Really, I don't." Involuntarily, he yawned; weeping like that had made him endlessly tired.

"I believe you."

"It's only because you're a bastard and got me all worked up."

"Whatever you say."

"I mean it!"

"Naruto," Sasuke suddenly sounded very curious. "Why do you smell like vanilla?"

He didn't know why he flushed. Maybe it was the fact Sasuke had admitted to _smelling_ him. For some reason, that didn't bode well in Naruto's mind.

"The old hag in the apartment under me only burns vanilla candles and we share an air duct so my apartment smells like cats and candles too."

"Oh."

"But it's okay—she gets pay back every time I have to fart."

Sasuke sighed and placed his chin back on top of Naruto's untamed spikes.

"You really know how to ruin a moment, dobe."

"There wasn't a moment to ruin, teme."

Another sigh ruffled the top of his hair.

"You don't know a thing about romance."

Naruto choked on his own spit and was compelled to sit up straight had it not been for the strapping arms binding him in place.

"Romance?! Who says this is romance?" He howled into Sasuke's chest.

"Well, you're my fiancé. What else would it be?"

"I never agreed to that!"

Sasuke cackled devilishly. "You will."

Naruto felt a distinct rising irritation at his teammate's arrogance.

"How can you expect me to think of you like that? You've only ever been an ass to me…Well, okay sometimes you can be nice, but that is really rare—**really, really rare**. Normally, people who get engaged date or something before hand or even just like-"

Suddenly, Sasuke chuckled loudly, his voice rumbling in his chest and Naruto listened to it tumble pleasantly in his ribcage.

"You want to be courted!" His partner exclaimed, his grip on Naruto tightening slightly as he struggled to regain his composure. "I had no idea you were so old fashioned Naruto!"

Desperately tired of arguing, Naruto let it go. He felt so blessedly warm, even the very tips of his toes were tepid—he just let go and allowed himself to be held. Closing his eyes slowly, he concluded he'd set him straight later in the morning, when his eyelids weren't as heavy and the chilly draft that blew just before the sun ascended shook him back into rationality.

------------------------

(_Neji time! Neji time! Neji time! Wooooooo!)_

Neji's eyelids unfastened every morning at precisely 6:08 am. After a brisk eighteen minute shower, he then proceeded to eat one evenly sliced half of grapefruit and down a small glass of milk. After certain toiletries were methodically taken care of, Neji set out from the Hyuuga home promptly at 7:00 am to take a short morning stroll to awaken and revitalize his body and spirit. He took the same path everyday, through the slowly stirring main street of Konoha, through a dank alley that smelled like mildew and the remnants of yesterday's trash, across a sleepy, unnamed street, and then into the forest to measure the conditions for training later that day. After properly evaluating the day's worth, he would them make the same trek back. Every day was the same; it was how he survived in this ever evolving world—by controlling his schedule so that everything remained exactly how he wanted it too.

This particular morning started out to be just like every other in his long listless amount of mornings, but as he began his hike back to his home he found something completely odd hiding behind the massive archway to the Uchihia clan complex

"Naruto-kun?"

The boy with unruly blonde spikes turned his head and looked at Neji with a strange expression of relief.

"Oh thank god, it's just you Neji!" The boy sighed gladly, stepping out from behind the gate. Neji instantly noticed his half-dressed state, his bright orange jacket hanging limply in his arm, and his hair which was ruffled and more wild than usual. He had to confess, the boy looked terribly adorable at the moment.

After getting his ass royally kicked all those many years ago, Neji had begun to actually take notice to the strange, lively creature that was Naruto. Some people would think that he stared maybe a bit too much at the easily agitated boy, but at least he didn't gawk at him as much as his cousin used to. She was pathetic. He was simply…interested.

"Listen, I need a favor, when Sasuke comes out I need you to—"

A new voice resounded as the haughtily prancing figure of Sasuke Uchihia came into view just feet beyond Naruto.

"Naruto! I was wondering where you went."

"—Hide me!" Naruto squeaked as he dashed behind Neji just as Sasuke appeared beside the gate. Eyeing him suspiciously, Sasuke smirked.

"Neji-_kun_, it's always a delight to see you." The words, however pleasantly voiced, were drenched in spite and ill intentions. Neji matched his tone easily.

"As it is to see you too, Sasuke-_kun._"

Naruto looked frantically between the two and then grinned widely.

"Well great! Seems like you two need to catch up some, so I'll just be on my way."

Sasuke's leer widened at least three inches and Neji noted that Naruto's gleeful face plummeted automatically.

"You hardly made any sound when you got up off—"

In a transient, orange flash, Naruto fled from behind Neji and to Sasuke, planting his hand firmly over his mouth.

"What's going on?" Neji inquired, wondering vaguely if this was how the two interacted all the time. It was quite well-known the two were close, but at the moment they both seemed to be hiding a precious piece of knowledge—something that obviously Naruto wanted to remain undisclosed while Sasuke desired to divulge it to the entire world.

"I um—"Naruto blatantly panicked at the question. "We had a little bit of a sleepover last night and I was supposed to make pancakes and EW! Sasuke that's just gross!" The wild boy's hand retreated swiftly from Sasuke's mouth and he proceeded to brandish it madly through the air as if it were on fire.

"He licked it…ewwwww, ewwwwwwww." He murmured as he wiped his entire arm desperately on his pants leg. Sasuke looked thoroughly pleased.

"You didn't mind my salvia so much last night."

_W-What?_

_  
_Neji had never seen Naruto's eyes grow so large, as if they were swirling with a mixture of horrible shock and fear. Faintly, he himself was interlocked between the two emotions. He did not desire to pick apart the situation clearly and examine it like a good little ninja should…he preferred to wipe his mind free before any unwanted thoughts sailed across it.

"Ah! He's joking! Haaa, so funny Sasuke." Naruto looked as if he was going to faint any moment, his eyes dancing anxiously to Neji and then back to his teammate. "So _damn funny._"

"I don't find it humorous at all." Sasuke leered.

"Well, it is! So…laugh you jerk!"

"There is nothing funny about you leaving and not bothering to wake me up. I only noticed because you drooled all over the pillow you put in my arms before you left." \

Neji could tell that Naruto wanted to die and Neji was feeling similar sentiments. He was an awkwardly placed character in the little drama performing before him and he—really wanted to know just what was going on.

"What are you…?" Neji had honestly meant to finish the sentence but the alarmed expression slapped across Naruto's face made his mouth click shut. This made Sasuke's conceited sneer lessen as the corners of his lips created a merry smile.

"We're dating." He proudly confirmed, seizing Naruto's hand and holding unto it like a gleaming trophy.

"Oh god," Naruto whispered tearfully, slapping his free hand against his forehead, evidently in an attempt to lose consciousness.

…And that was about the time when Neji bolted.

* * *

-

Author's note: BWHAHAHHAHAHAHa…ha…he..ho…very few chapters left! It's two in the morning on Christmas eve...Merry Christmas everybody! I hope I have time to write a Christmas story. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Shit! I forgot to add something. Oh well…I'll just explain to you now…

The same person who brought up the silence issue also brought up the whole issue with what Kumiko said about not stealing his fiancé's heart blah-de-blah-blah…I was going to explain it somewhere but, then I didn't. I forgot. Damn it. Well, if you really want to know, email me. If you could give a flying shit less, then um…don't email me. Review, I heart you all so much! (So does my cat, this is what she has to say "sjafhgo8ehir lnsiedoj fo39")

Pssssss: Neji doesn't really _like like_ Naruto—he just finds him very interesting. I didn't want to make this story toooo trite with every boy in the anime being helplessly gay and pining desperately after him (even though we all know they are and would). Although, Gaara may have a bit of an unhealthy adoration for Naru-chan. He'll pop up later (maybe)((If I can remember to add him in))(((someone remind me later))).


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